A blog by Luke Akehurst about politics, elections, and the Labour Party - With subtitles for the Hard of Left.
Just for the record: all the views expressed here are entirely personal and do not necessarily represent the positions of any organisations I am a member of.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Labour's Top 50 Achievements

The Party has published this list of Labour's Top 50 achievements since 1997 - a useful reminder:

1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.2. Low mortgage rates.3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.9. Employment is at its highest level ever.10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.11. 85,000 more nurses.12. 32,000 more doctors.13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.19. Restored city-wide government to London.20. Record number of students in higher education.21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.35. Banned fox hunting.36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.37. Free TV licences for over-75s.38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.41. New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.43. Free eye test for over 60s.44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.

16 Comments:

Chris Gale said...

The ban on fox hunting should be much more widely trumpeted. Cameron,the political pin up on the so called Countryside Alliance and has pledged to his bloodsports pals that he will re-legalise their barbaric so called 'sports' should he win power.The Hunting Act also bans hunting hares, deer and mink with dogs.

The ban on Fox Hunting, has it been banned? It still happens around here.

I'm against hunting with dogs but I'm also against chickens being kept in battery farms, or the halal slaughter of animals, or the way in which animals are shipped abroad for slaughter.

Is the killing of a fox really more important than stopping battery farming. How many foxes are killed every day on our roads. I do agree that the sport is cruel but feel that it would been a lot better to ban the hunting of deer with dogs.

I'm not sure whether your aware Chris but Labour are about to water down that bill. This is because it is bad law rushed in and can't be enforced.

Labour have created an immense divide between those that live in cities and those that live in the country. If anything the popularity of hunting has increased since the ban as there has been a huge backlash against the legislation.

Our farmers are being forced by our lovely supermarkets to produce cheaper and cheaper food. The result is that many farmers are being forced to turn farms into factories. We should be doing a lot more to help farmers and rural life...this bill is seen as another attack.

We should have come to a compromise rather than an outright ban. Now I'm almost certain that we will see the return of hunting deer with dogs.

Child benefit "up 26 per cent since 1997"? I genuinely thought it was up by more than that. Otherwise, we're talking about a rise of only 2.6 per cent per year, which is below inflation, and thus something to be ashamed.

I wish I could say that list stirred the blood, but though there's a decent smattering of good things there it reads as a bit feeble really.

Total crimes 34,630Violent crimes: 7,741Robberies: 1,856. 8 times the national averageBurglary figures 3 times the national averageHackney is the country's top car crime hot spot with thefts involving cars accounting for 19% of all motor insurance claims.

It's got so bad that Haringey Police Chief Supt Wayne Mawson has moved house from Hackney. Even he was to scared to move on youths sitting on his front garden wall. He admits his quality of life has improved since leaving Hackney.

"If you follow Ravi's ULR you will see that he boasts of being a "Scouser"."

Get your facts straight you moron, I live in Liverpool but I am definitely not a scouser and have never claimed to be one. From what I have been told you have to be born in Liverpool to count as one of them; I don't even warrent the title of honoury scouser as I have not lived here that long.

Before I left home I studied, worked and lived under the existence of a Scottish parliament, and I will be returning for good in 2 years time, so put that in your pipe and smoke it. I travel frequently back home to visit my parents (who as Rich has pointed out were born British [they were both born and moved here before Mauritius gained independence]). On top of all that I was born in Aberdeen (as you can see from my bloggers profile), if you don't know where that is I suggest you look at a map of Scotland before you take a running jump.

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About Me

Labour Party activist since 1988 - firmly on the moderate wing of the party. Member of Labour’s NEC 2010-2012. National Secretary of Labour Students 1995-6. Parliamentary candidate for Aldershot (2001) and Castle Point (2005). Hackney Councillor (Chatham Ward) 2002-2014, Labour Group Chief Whip 2002-09, Chair of Health Scrutiny 2010-2014. Supporter of Europe, NATO/nuclear deterrence, Israel, electoral reform. Guardian reader. Dad. Oxford resident. Unite union member. Employment history as a Labour Party Organiser, Local Government Political Assistant, Director at a Public Affairs company. All views expressed in a personal capacity. The rest will become evident from reading the blog.